One of the most expensive statue in Rizal Park was stolen according to some officials of the Art (–foul word(s) removed–)ociation of the Philippines. The bronze crown sculpture statue was made by the country’s renowned artist Juan Sajid Imao. Imao is best known as the sculptor of the 40-foot cast-metal bronze statue of Lapu-Lapu in Luneta.
Watch the video report courtesy of GMA News:
The bronze sculpture statue was worth about P500,000, it was discovered missing inside the Kanlungan ng Sining. According to Fidel Sarmiento, president of the Art (–foul word(s) removed–)ociation of the Philippines, the theft occured as the Kanlungan ng Sining was undergoing renovation works.
Sarmiento revealed to the media that one of the suspects in the theft of the half-a-million peso statue is an employee of a private contractor tasked to do the renovation works inside the Kanlungan ng Sining.
According to the official of Art (–foul word(s) removed–)ociation of the Philippines, a plant was used to conceal the pedestal where the stolen sculpture was originally placed. The stolen bronze statue weighs 80 kilograms and around four feet in height. The statue have been in the Kanlungan ng Sining (Artist’s Heavens) for the past eight years.
